Once Upon A Time
by LikeBananasDo
Summary: How an empiristic, but charmingly intelligent youngman struggles with romances, work and friendship in 1994's New York. Lobster


**Title: Once Upon A Time  
Pairing: Lobster, slight Mondler  
Genre: Comedy/Romance  
Summary: Allow me to let you perceive the life of a youngman in New York.****  
Author's Note: I haven't been on for quite some time. Thought I'd give it another try. Takes place in 1994.**

Once upon a time, there was a youngman living in the Big Apple. He was in his late twenties, simple of origin, just divorced, and father of a child. Though his friends always referred to him as either a 'dork' or a 'squint', his lovable personality always seemed to be making everything up for him. Being a professor, he was one of the rare men that were actually remarkable, which he perceived himself when he got out to grab a drink with a few colleagues. Alright, truth be told, he wasn't the type of guy girls would easily drool over, but if he were the last man on earth...

_Alright._ He thought, waving it off. _Beauty is orginality. Originality is being yourself. _Lately, he just took for granted what his rational mind told him, though the facts often pointed out even his friends could be more succesful around the women.

He was raised religiously, but that made no difference in the man he was today, and the standard morals he taught himself to be seen as a decent, and charming man.

"Cheers." He raised his bottle of beer, ignoring the glass the barkeeper had given him. His co-worker, who sat next to him, raised his glass too. This was only one of the few times he actually convinced him that life was more than just working and sleeping. _Klink!_ Collecting his thoughts, he brought the bottle to his lips and took a large swig out of it. Roger, which was the name of his colleague, was sipping his water, while glaring blankly at his knuckles. "You alright?"

He knew this was getting quite cheesy, because he was aware of the fact that Roger sporadically laughed; or even flashed a smile. He briefly wondered if he'd even grin during his childhood.

Because he did, at least. Of course, in puberty he and his younger sister, Monica, didn't get along great, but who did? At times, he did have his fun with her, and nowadays he couldn't imagine not seeing her four times a week.

That same counted for his friends, Phoebe and Chandler. Plus, Chandler had this new roommate, and slow but sure, he was actually becoming friends with him. He met Phoebe a few years ago through Monica, and Chandler was his old roommate back in college.

_Boy, those were good days._

Now he found himself sitting at a bar, joined by some guy who barely uttered a word, except if you'd put him in front of a class. But then his words would be so tranquil and tedious, even the youngman himself would want to kill himself.

Ross Geller, for yours truly.

"Hey!" It was the next day, a saturday, and Ross sounded surprisingly cheerful being him, as he flung the door open and basically stormed in. He was only glad to finally see his friends and be with people who actually seemed alive. Monica was standing in the kitchen, cutting the cucumber for her salad, while Phoebe helped her plucking the celery and Chandler was settled on the couch with a magazine, that was oddly enough for women. Monica shot him a grin. "Someone's happy." "Well," Ross replied, taking off his coat and hanging it on the hatstand. ⌠I spend my fridaynights with a guy that makes me want to kill myself; I am glad to be with the living again." He joked, earning a snicker from Phoebe. At that moment the actor, Joey came in. He smiled at the women, and patted Ross on the back. "Hey man." He greeted, followed by the exchange of greetings from the others. Joey then crashed onto his favourite chair on the left side of the tv, and nibbled on a cracker he took from the plate Monica had set on the table. "Oh, before I forget Ross, I asked Rachel to come have lunch with us tomorrow." Monica brought up, not seeing the puzzled expression that took over Ross' features. "Rachel?" "Yeah." Monica bluntly answered, collecting the little pieces of green vegetables and tossing them in the bowl. "As in my old girlfriend from high school." She furtherly explained. She had no time to respond to the look Ross gave her now, when she heard a boyish giggle from the living room. She turned around inquiringly, to find Joey barely controlling his laughter. Chandler rolled his eyes. "She meant that in a friendly manner, Joe." He clearified for Monica. Joey didn't stop his grins, and smirked. "Not in my head." Monica cocked her head to make it crack softly, trying to forget Joey's comment, and focussed her attention back to her brother, who had now pulled himself together. "What are you up to today, bro?" "Eh," Ross shoved the chair backwards, and plopped down on it. "I figured I could just crash here and do nothing with you guys." Phoebe grinned. "Like we always do?" "Like we always do."

"...23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30." Barry counted out loud, as he combed his hair even on both sides. His fiancee, Rachel Greene, trudged into the room. She was wearing her pajama's, and yawned. "Mornin'." "Morning." Barry greeted, not taking his eyes of the mirror. ⌠Had a good night sleep?" "Sure." Rachel responded, not even thinking about the question. She knew this question would come up every day and she was considering saying 'good', instead of 'sure' every day. A woman's gotta change every now and then.

Making her way to the kitchen, she tucked her feet into the slippers she dropped earlier that day in the middle of the room, and she opened up the fridge, studying the contents. Milk, cheese, butter, juice, water, lemonade... She thought to herself, contemplating the options she had for breakfast. Maybe I should just make myself a sandwich with- Ooh, nail polish. Back in high school, her old friend Monica used to call her attention the same of a squirrel's. Rachel shrugged to her own thought back to the 'good old days' and grabbed the purple nail polish.

"I almost forgot, I told this Monica-woman you were okay with having lunch with her today." Barry entered the large kitchen in his workclothes, and scratched his back. "Are you?" He quickly verified.  
Rachel, who now sat on her chair with her feet up, opened up the little bottle and shrugged. "Okay, why not?" She could only vaguely remember her friendship with the woman. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing getting contact with her again. "You home by eight?" She asked her now boyfriend, before he could slip on his coat and leave. "Nah," He answered, reaching for the doorknob. "I have to work late." A loud bang of the front door closing was the next thing Rachel could hear. She knew pretty sure what he would be up to.

The friends were watching Days Of Our Lives, the show Joey dreamed to be on, when they heard knocking on the door. Phoebe counted the people in the room, only to conclude every friend was in. Joey got up to his feet, deciding the others weren't feeling like getting the door. "Hey." He looked straight in the eyes of a blonde woman, who looked exhausted. Probably because of the stairs. "Is, er, Monica living he-" Rachel peeked over the shoulder of Joey, and saw the rest not paying any attention to the television screen anymore. "Monica!" She called out, when she saw the woman sitting on the floor. "Monica!" She yelled again, storming past the stunned Joey, and right into the arms of Monica, who now stood up, excited. "Rach! I thought you were coming tomorrow?" "I thought I was coming today?" Rachel responded, half-confused, half-surprised.  
"I guess you misunderstood..." Rachel ignored her urge to fling back another statement why she came today, and grabbed the arms of her long-lost friend. "Look at you! You lost some weight!" She silenced for a while, then corrected herself. "Minor correction: you lost yourself twice!" "Oh," Monica let out, meekly. "I did my homework." Rachel tightened the grip on Monica, still not believing it. "Still! Oh, my, gawd!" "Oh, no!" Rachel heard a man complaining, who sat in the living room. He dramatically collapsed on his chair, rubbing his temples. ⌠Janice flashback, Janice flashback!" Joey smirked at Chandler, and finally closed the door. "Introduce us, Mon?" "Oh, right." Monica pointed at Joey and Phoebe. "That's Joey and Phoebe..." She turned around at Chandler, who now calmed because of Ross' attempts to get him back to normal again. "...you should remember Chandler." "Oh, yeah," Rachel bit back a displeased comment on Chandler. "It all came screaming back at me." She muttered at last.  
Monica didn't catch her words, and led her to Ross, who nervously sat on the couch. "You remember him too, right? My brother Ross." "Oh, yeah." Rachel send him a friendly smile, not finding it weird he blushed a little. He didn't change one bit. Still a little guy with a crush.

"So, what do you guys do in your free time?" Rachel folded her hands together, as she looked at Monica. They were 'playing' the simple question-answer game, mostly because they couldn't figure out another thing to do.  
"...watch films we don't get." Joey answered, earning a giggle from Rachel. "Why don't you guys get them?" "Because Monica makes us watch Spanish films and we...you know, don't- don't speak Spanish." Ross stuttered. There go his morals. He silently cursed to himself. One of his morals was to never stutter when you see a woman you have a thing for, and so far, he could never really live up to it. Sighing, he focussed his attention to Chandler, who was loudly chatting to Rachel about whether Spanish films should be subtitled or not. If he could only be like him, jabber away, without worrying you might 'jabber' a little too much.

Another sigh. Who knew what would come from the rest of the day.

**Author's Note: So, what do you think? Worth the read? Too many spelling errors? Don't hesitate to drop a review, 'cause if this story is appreciated, I'll even update more chapters.**


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